Poster Cat Popularizes Feline Leukemia Vaccine

Currents

December 30, 1985|By Diane Lade, Staff Writer

Seemore says: Vaccinate your cat against feline leukemia today.

Of course, Seemore doesn`t actually deliver the message. He`s a cat himself. But as the poster kitty for Norden Laboratories, the company marketing the vaccine in the United States and Canada, he represents the health care necessary for felines everywhere.

Or as Seemore`s owner, Mike Lipka, says: ``Seemore is Everycat.``

In Fort Lauderdale for a brief hiatus from busy New York City, where Lipka hosts a local television show, Seemore received his final dose of the three- injection leukemia series Dec. 16 from Dr. Jerry Shank of Shank Animal Hospital. He took it, well, like a cat.

``I don`t think he wants to come back out,`` apologized Lipka as tried to pry Seemore out of his carrier to meet the press. ``He`s afraid he`s going to get another shot.``

But that shot will prevent Seemore and his peers from contracting the feline leukemia virus (FeLV), a blood-cell cancer that is one of the most common causes of death in young cats. Called a lifesaver by veterinarians, the vaccine has been available for 11 months.

Before it was developed, one out of 10 cats died of FeLV or a related disease. In households with more than one cat, the ratio increased to one death for every three pets.

FeLV is transmitted in the same fashion as human AIDS: in bodily fluids, such as saliva, urine and feces. Cats pass the virus through biting, licking and sneezing. Less commonly, kittens inherit FeLV at birth through infected mothers or through nursing.

Shank calls FeLV the ``heartbreaker. Once the animal has it, there is very little that can be done.`` The treatments are expensive, rarely effective and can be more damaging than the disease.

``It can be really touching,`` Shank said. ``Older folks come in and their cat is dying. They`ve lost their spouse and their cat is really their baby, the only thing they have left.``

Leukocell, developed jointly through Norden and Ohio State University, breaks medical ground as the first vaccine that prevents cancer in any mammal. Dr. Richard Olsen, an immunologist with the Ohio State University Veterinary School, headed the 10 years of research that went into the drug. The information obtained is being used in treatment of human cancers and AIDS, Shank said.

Inoculations contain a subparticle of the leukemia virus, which stimulates the production of antibodies that then block additional FeLV infections. The vaccination has an almost 99 percent success rate, Shank said, and also protects against lymphosarcoma, a cancer found in older cats, and FAIDS, a feline immune deficiency disease closely related to human acuired immune deficiency syndrome.

The Leukocell series is administered in three shots, Shank said; the first one at nine weeks, the second three weeks later and the third two to four months after the second. A booster shot is recommended yearly. The cost is between $15 and $20 per visit and the vaccination is available through most veterinarians.

But although Leukocell is effective and easily available, there are two drawbacks.

One is that the vaccine only prevents FeLV infection and doesn`t cure cats that already have the disease. And the second is that most pet owners aren`t aware Leukocell is available.

Unlike rabies, which has been a health issue since the turn of the century, the feline leukemia virus was isolated 12 years ago. Before that, Shanks said, the illness was a ``diagnostic nightmare,`` often detectable only after autopsy as cats manifested the symptoms long after infection.

``We estimate that 15 percent of cat owners that use a veterinarian have had the vaccine,`` said Gary Levine, the local field representative for Norden Laboratories. ``We were looking for a way to promote it.``

That way proved to be Seemore.

Norden representatives decided they needed a ``poster cat.`` An artist`s sketch on the vaccine`s brochures pictured two felines so bedraggled ``that people kept asking us if the cats had leukemia,`` Levine said. ``We wanted to show a healthy cat that would get the average cat owner to go into the clinic. So we didn`t want a purebred animal. We were looking for a Morris tupe of cat.``

Seemore fit the bill. He was found by Lipka huddled outside of a Manhattan law office, a black ball ``no bigger than a soda can,`` Lipka recalled. ``His eyes were closed and he was pretty sick.``

But the little orphaned black cat with the big green eyes recovered. On one of his many trips to the veterinarian, Lipka noticed a child crying in the lobby. Her kitty, she told Lipka, was going to die because he had leukemia.

Lipka contacted Norden Laboratories to volunteer his and Seemore`s services in fighting the disease. After several conversations and a photo session, it was decided that Seemore`s striking dark looks made him a good spokescat candidate.

The cat`s face now appears on 20,000 Norden posters in animal clinics around the country. In October, he and Lipka flew by Lear jet, courtesy of Aero Exchange Corp., to Palm Beach to meet with socialite Mary France Turner. As the host of New York Nights, a television show that deals with high society, Lipka often rubs elbows with the Palm Beach crowd, and he and Seemore were to appear at Turner`s Dec. 27 bash, held to benefit cancer research.

As for Seemore, he takes his new celebrity status in stride. Future plans for guest spots on the Today show and radio commercials don`t keep him from enjoying everyday people and impromptu wrestling matches with his housemate, Fortune The Cat.